Mountain Gardener Buncombe County s Extension Newsletter for Home Lawn & Garden Enthusiasts Buncombe County Center, 94 Coxe Avenue, Asheville, NC 28801-3620 ( 828-255-5522 ) July 2010 Inside This Issue July Garden Chores, p. 2 Insects to Watch For, p. 3 E-mail, Demo Gardens p. 3 Spotlight: Daylilies, p. 4 Growing in the Mountains, p. 4 Focus on Flowers, p. 5 Bagworms, p. 5 Vegetable Problems, p.5 Coming Events p. 6 Contact Us Buncombe County Center 94 Coxe Avenue Asheville, NC 28801 Linda Blue Extension Agent Agriculture-Urban Horticulture Check out Buncombe County Center s website at: http://buncombe.ces.ncsu.edu Helping gardeners put knowledge to works We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses - Abraham Lincoln Always Read the Label It may not be the most exciting reading, but taking a fresh look at the label is important whenever using garden pesticides whether chemical or organic. The label will tell you what diseases, insects or weeds should be controlled and where the product may be used. It will also tell you the mixing or application rate and any safety precautions that should be taken when handling. Another important bit of information when treating fruits or vegetables is the preharvest interval. This is the amount of time you must wait after using the product before harvesting. Most organic pesticides such as soaps and oils have a waiting period of 0 (zero) days. Other products will vary depending on the material and the crop being treated. To protect honeybees and other pollinators, if you must use an insecticide (even organic) spray late in the evening when few bees are active. Normal July Weather Weather Averages For Asheville, North Carolina Normal July Average High 84.3 F Normal July Average Low 63.5 F Normal July Precipitation 2.97 Hours of Daylight for Asheville, NC Sunrise Sunset Distributed in furtherance of the acts of Congress of May 8 and June 30, 1914. North Carolina State University and North Carolina A&T State University commit themselves to positive action to secure equal opportunity regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, religion, sex, age, veteran status or disability. In addition, the two Universities welcome all persons without regard to sexual orientation. North Carolina State University, North Carolina A&T State University, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and local governments cooperating. July 1 6:17 am 8:49 pm July 31 6:37 am 8:35 pm Persons with disabilities and persons with limited English proficiency may request accommodations to participate in activities mentioned in this newsletter. Please contact Linda Blue at 828-255-5522 during business hours at least 3 days prior to the event to discuss accommodations.
Page 2 Garden Chores for July Lawns If brown patch fungus disease has developed in the lawn, the best steps to reduce the spread of the disease are to avoid mowing or even walking on the lawn when it is wet, and do not irrigate. Mow fescue and bluegrass lawns 3 inches high. There are not many zoysia lawns in the mountains, but if you have one, the warm season grasses can be fertilized with a half pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet. Ornamentals Try to accomplish the pruning of shrubs early in the month. Deadhead spent flowers to encourage continued blooming on annuals and re-blooming on some perennials. Container gardens do require some attention. Fertilize every few weeks with liquid fertilizer and cut back plants as needed to keep the garden in balance. Don t forget to water newly planted trees and shrubs weekly if needed. Fruits Early summer rain has produced perfect conditions for lots of black rot to develop on grapes, as well as brown rot on peaches and nectarines. At this point, if you have not been applying fungicide sprays on a regular basis, you probably already have problems. Products containing Captan are most effective. Prune blackberries and raspberries after harvest. Blueberries look to be in good supply this year. Visit local tailgate markets or a pick-your-own farm. Vegetables Consistent moisture is important for preventing blossom-end-rot on tomatoes (and sometimes squash or peppers). Mulch helps as well as attention to regular irrigation. Early blight hit tomatoes in early June and late blight may not be far behind. The best way to prevent these diseases is to maintain weekly fungicide sprays. The most commonly used garden product is chlorothalonil (Bravo, Daconil, etc.). Organic gardeners may want to try Serenade, a new bacterial product. Copper or sulfur sprays are less effective, but offer a little help. If possible, harvest vegetables in the morning, before the heat of the day. Second best is late evening. And pick regularly for best quality. Refer to the publication on Harvesting Vegetables, http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8108.html. Plan the fall garden. Brussels sprouts should be planted in July, most other cool season crops in August. You can start seeds in pots for plants such as broccoli, cabbage and collards. You can also still plant late crops of squash, bush beans or cucumbers. Other Surplus produce can be donated to the Plant A Row For The Hungry collection at Manna Food Bank. Take fresh fruits and vegetables to Manna at 627 Swannanoa River Road, Monday Friday between 8am and 3:30 pm.
Page 3 Insects to Watch For Inspect plants periodically so you can tackle pest problems before they get out of hand. Pesticides should never be applied randomly just in case there might be some insects in the garden. You may end up killing off more beneficial insects than pests. Ornamentals: slugs; lacebugs on azaleas, rhododendrons, pieris, pyracanthas; bagworms on junipers, cedars, cypress, arborvitae; spruce mites on spruce, hemlocks, fir; spider mites on many flowers and shrubs; euonymous scale. Fruits and vegetables: slugs, asparagus beetles, cucumber beetles, cabbageworms, tomato fruitworms, corn earworms, Mexican bean beetles, Colorado potato beetles, squash beetles, squash bugs, aphids, spider mites. Sign up for E-mail Here is an opportunity to sign up for notices of coming events offered by Buncombe County s Extension Master Gardener Volunteers. Extension Master Gardener Volunteers are trained by NC Cooperative Extension to assist with providing educational information to area citizens. They offer gardening information by staffing a Garden Hotline, conducting Saturday Plant Problem Clinics, and staffing Ask A Gardener information tables at many local events, as well as providing Garden Schools and other programs. If you would like to be included in periodic email updates of coming educational opportunities offered by Master Gardeners, you can sign up by sending an email with ADD in the subject line to buncombemastergardener@gmail.com. Please note that this address is only for signing up for the e-news. For gardening and other questions, please continue to call 255-5522 for the Master Gardener Hotline, which is open M-Th 8:30 4:30 and Friday 8:30 to 12:30. Visit Our Demonstration Sites You can also learn more about gardening by visiting our demonstration sites. Extension Master Gardeners of Buncombe County maintain three demonstrations in Asheville. On Thursday mornings, between 9:30am and 11:30am, you can visit with the Master Gardener Volunteers at the Plant A Row Demonstration Garden at Manna Food Bank. They will be happy to answer your gardening questions or explain their vegetable growing techniques while they take care of the garden. Of course you can drop by to take a look and pick up a leaflet at any time. If you are visiting the WNC Nature Center don t miss the Heirloom Garden. Inside the picket fence you ll see old fashioned varieties of herbs, flowers and vegetables and can pick up a leaflet while you are there. These volunteers also usually work on Thursday mornings. The Composting Demonstration, located at the WNC Farmers Market, contains several different types of compost bins as well as informational signs and leaflets. Composting demonstrations are the second and fourth Saturdays each month between 11:00am and 2:00pm.
Page 4 Spotlight: Daylilies If ever there was a flower designed for the South, perhaps it is the daylily (Hemerocallis species). These tough plants will grow in almost any conditions, although of course they will perform best if well tended. Although the familiar orange flowers can be seen along many roadsides, modern hybrids have greatly expanded the available color range, flower type, plant size and bloom season. Flowers can be pink, purple, burgundy, nearwhite or lime green, as well as the more familiar yellow or orange. If you want to select plants while they are in bloom, late June through mid-july is an excellent time to visit nurseries. When selecting varieties, consider qualities such as bloom time, re-blooming potential and plant height, as well as flower color. Although most of us are familiar with the common re-blooming variety Stella de Oro there are many other re-blooming varieties. I prefer the lighter shade of yellow and, I think, better reblooming of Happy Returns and Stella Supreme. Other popular varieties include Pardon Me, Rosy Returns and Joan Senior. Daylilies will bloom best in full sun, but do well with a half day. Although they will tolerate most soil conditions, like most plants they grow best in loamy soil with a ph of 6.0 to 6.5. Removing spent flower stems before seed pods form will help encourage more blooming on the re-bloomers and may help set more blooms for next year. Divide clumps every 3 to 5 years when they become crowded. Growing in the Mountains Tuesdays August 3 31, 2010 5:30 7:30 PM NC Cooperative Extension 94 Coxe Ave, Asheville August is the time to plant those healthy fall vegetables. And a home landscape should look good without requiring a lot of maintenance. Maintain an environmentally friendly landscape by learning the basic steps to selecting and growing healthy plants. This series will include the steps to designing your home landscape, evaluating your site, selecting good trees, shrubs and perennials for your site, best planting and maintenance practices, and planting and maintaining a home lawn. August 3 Planting A Fall Vegetable Garden August 10 Six Steps To Landscape Design August 17 Selecting The Right Plants August 24 Planting and Maintenance August 31 Home Lawn Care Pre-registration required due to limited seating. $5 per class, pay at the door. To receive this newsletter via email Phone 255-5522 or email: joyce.plemmons@buncombecounty.org
Page 5 Focus on Flowers: My Grandmother s Garden July 17,2010 9:30am 4:30pm This popular annual event, sponsored by the Arboretum, N.C. Cooperative Extension and Buncombe County Master Gardeners, returns with a look at how the past can teach us to be better landscape stewards of the future. This promises to be a wonderful program with some great speakers. The program fee is $44 for Arboretum Society, $50 for the general public, and includes lunch and beverage service as well as extensive handout materials. For more information or to register, visit www.ncarboretum.org or call (828) 665-2492. Bagworms Finding The Common Ground Favorite Pass-along Plants Propagating Grandma s Garden Heirloom Roses The Shade Garden Arrangements From the Mixed Border Hunter Stubbs Amy Fahmy Dick Bir Judy Deutsch Linda Blue Eve Davis Bagworms can strip the needles from Leyland cypress, arborvitae, junipers and other evergreens. Now is the time to check your plants and take action if needed. Take a close look because the worm incorporates bits of the plant s foliage into its bag which effectively camouflages the critter if you are not paying attention. If possible, remove them by hand. In early July you can still control them with organic Bt spray (Bacilus thuringiensis). By late July stronger insecticides will be needed. In August the caterpillars enter the pupal phase and are not affected by insecticides. Once they have attached to the stem and are no longer feeding, removing the bags will at least remove any eggs that would hatch out next spring. Vegetable Problems? By mid summer we are seeing a number of problems in the vegetable garden (see the list under Insects to Watch For ). Several common problems can cause plants to suddenly wilt. Squash: probably squash vine borers, a worm that bores into the center of the stem, eating away the stem tissue. Look for a hole in the stem with stuff coming out. If caught early, gardeners are sometimes successful in splitting open the stem with a razor blade, removing the worm(s), closing the stem, and then mounding soil up around the stem. Cucumbers: probably bacterial wilt, which can also affect watermelon and cantaloupe. This disease is spread by cucumber beetles when they chew on the plants. Once a plant is infected, it cannot be saved. Remove it from the garden to reduce likelihood of spread to other plants. Tomatoes: If plant wilts suddenly, without turning yellow, there are three possible causes. Bacterial wilt is caused by a soil borne bacteria that affects plants in the nightshade family. There is nothing to be done except not planting tomatoes, peppers, eggplants or potatoes in that spot for a few years. Southern stem blight is a soil borne fungus which can affect many plants. You should find white cottony fungus growing just above or below the soil line. Again, no chemical treatment. Walnut wilt occurs if the roots of a walnut tree have invaded the garden space. The roots exude a material that is toxic to many plants, with tomatoes being especially sensitive.
Page 6 EVENTS July 3 & Extension Master Gardener s Ask a Gardener information table at the Asheville City August 7 tailgate Market. 8am 1pm. July Plant Problem Clinics, by Extension Master Gardeners at the WNC Farmers Market, 10 & 24 11:00am -2:00pm in the breezeway between the retail buildings. July Backyard Composting Demonstration, by Extension Master Gardeners at the WNC 10 & 24 Farmers Market, beside Israel's Garden Center, 11:00am -2:00pm. July 17 Focus on Flowers: My Grandmother s Garden, The NC Arboretum, 9:00am-4:00pm. For more information or to register, visit www.ncarboretum.org, or call the Arboretum at 665-2492. July 21 Gardening in the Mountains Series, Roses for WNC, presented by Extension Master Gardeners, Extension Office, 94 Coxe Ave.,10:00am, Free. No registration required. August 18 Gardening in the Mountains Series, Ground Covers: High Impact Problem Solvers, presented by Extension Master Gardeners, Extension Office, 94 Coxe Ave.,10:00am, Free. No registration required. Buncombe County Center 94 Coxe Avenue Asheville, NC 28801-3620 PRSRT STD U. S. POSTAGE PAID ASHEVILLE, NC PERMIT NO. 122